Japanese とは grammar toha

Let’s learn Japanese とは grammar toha :

Japanese とは grammar toha

JLPT level : N1

Formation :

～とは

Meaning and how to use :

1. Describe the nature, content or state of an event or a thing. This is a way of saying, in written form, it’s used as 「とは…ものだ」、「とは…のことだ／意味だ」、「とは…ということだ／意味だ」. As for speaking form, it’s 「Nというのは」.

Examples:

JKとは「女子高校生」の省略の刑です。
JK to ha ‘joshi koukousei’ no shourya ku no kei desu.
JK is a abbreviation for “High school girls”.

希少動物とは固体の数量が少ない動物ものだ。
Kishou doubutsu to ha kotai no suuryou ga sukunai doubutsu mono da.
Rare species are animals with small numbers of organisms worldwide.

2. Used to quote a person to validate the person’s informations or to judge. Often goes with words indicating feelings such as surprise, admiration, anger. For this structure, とは is often replaced with 「というのは」. But if used in fixed speech 「と は 何事 だ」 can not be replaced.

Examples:

君は私に「バカモノ」とはどういう事ですか。
Kimi ha watashi ni ‘baka mono’ to ha douiu koto desu ka.
What did you mean by saying “You idiot”?

彼が私に「さよなら」と言うとはもう会えなくなるでしょうか。
Kare ga watashi ni ‘sayonara’ to iu to ha mou ae naku naru desho u ka.
He said “Farewell” to me, does that mean we can’t see each other again?

3. Expresses the feeling of being surprised, admired that an event happens unexpectedly. There are cases where the latter part とは can be removed (example 2). In spoken form, it’s often used under 「…なんて」.

Examples:

2時間だけでこの難しいクイズが解けるとはすばらしいね。
2 jikan dake de kono muzukashii kuizu ga tokeru to ha subarashii ne.
Only in 2 hours that you could solve this riddle, you’re amazing
Chỉ trong hai tiếng đồng hồ mà giải được câu đố khó thế này thì thật tuyệt nhỉ.

５歳の子共は漢字だらけの本が読めるとは…
Go sai no ko domo ha kanji darake no hon ga yomeru to ha?
He’s only 5 years old but can read a book full of Kanji characters..

Related structures :

ref : tuhoconline

above is Japanese ～とは grammar ~toha. if you don’t understand the signs we used in fomation, you can find their meaning here : signs used in Japanese grammar structures.

You can search the structure you want by using the search tool on our website (using key : grammar + ‘structure name’ or you can find more Japanese grammar structures in the following category : Japanese grammar dictionary

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